The fourth entry in our
Early Predictions series is the Sixers big free agent acquisition of the summer, 34-years-young, Tony Battie.
First of all, the day the Sixers shocked the basketball world by signing Tony Battie was a dark, dark day for me. It was the first time I've made fun of an athlete for being old when he was the same age as me. Battie is only a month or two my senior, and yep. He's old. I guess I'm probably over the hill as a blogger, so it fits.
- Minutes: 400
- Points/game: 2.0
- Rebs/game: 1.2
- Ast/game: 0.1
- Steals/game: 0.1
- Blocks/game: 0.1
- TOV/game: 0.2
- DNPCDs: 32
- FG%: 45%
- 3PT%: NA
Battie was ostensibly brought in here to be a veteran presence and add whatever toughness the mullet cannot. I'm sure Collins likes the idea of having a guy who's been around the block on the bench (be it in street clothes, or warmups), but Battie is so far removed from being a useful NBA player (if he ever really was to begin with), that I can't help but believe he's going to be spending a ton of time in a suit.
Four hundred minutes is probably too many, I don't think he's effective enough to even fill the role carved out for Theo Ratliff two seasons ago (578 minutes), but much like with Jason Smith, I think Battie will get some burn from time to time, if for no other reason than to send a message to the other bigs.
Your thoughts in the comments, as usual.
Bought out by the all star break?
Nah, they never buy out minimum contracts.
Elton has someone his age to hang out with. When we getting an old guard? All we missing...
they shouldve signed that dude Ebi. And/or that dude Iverson.
I would like that if we didn't have 27 other forwards
I'm very excited about maressee speights this year!! I think he will buy in to doug and step into the big man role that theres sixers desperately need. And i think old man brand should start beside speights.
I could see Collins getting a bit frustrated with M16 and Hawes and their practice habits and decide to start the geezers for a bit to sen a message.
What are the odds of Brand/Battie getting 2 or more starts together this year?
3%.
I think it's much more likely Collins goes small if his bigs are lazy and can't defend (which, let's face it, is pretty close to a certainty) and he can't take it anymore.
Does starting the second half count?
Speaking of Collins, I've been reading a lot lately and I reread 'The Jordan Rules," which is a very good book. I wasn't old enough to read it when it came out, but I've heard it was the first time people could really see that Jordan was a really bad teammate.
Anyway, Collins is ripped in that book. Jordan has a big story where he and other guys are talking about their coaches like Dominique talking about how Fratello ripped him. Jordan ended the conversation by saying, "You guys may think your coaches have problems, but mine cries every day." It was his first job, but I hope age calmed him down.
I don't know if his relative success in Detroit clouds it, but he seemed to handle that job really well. All the Bulls liked Jackson better because they said when they won with Collins, it was a great job by the coaches who prepared well according to Collins. When they lost, the players didn't execute. Yikes. I know he's a different guy/coach, but are people just blaming that on Jordan here? The success in Detroit is more recent, but it's a little disturbing reading this stuff about our coach.
Yeah, I take that with a grain of salt considering Jordan chose Collins as his coach in Washington at the end of his career.
It seemed like that Jordan overpowered Collins in Chicago though. Collins blamed Jordan for not being able to play uptempo. I found this funny because it probably is true, but Collins didn't play uptempo anywhere else. Sam Smith said Jordan tested Collins with acting out (a flare-up when he was acting immature yelling at Collins) in practice and Collins didn't punish him. Smith said Jordan, who knew he was wrong, lost respect for him because he could get away with what he wanted. Maybe Smith was trying to sell a book with that theory, but he was around the team every day. He let Jordan do what he pleased as well, maybe that's a reason he brought him back?
Could be. I'll have to read the book.
Keep in mind that Sam Smith is on the level of Peter Vescey in terms of integrity and ability
What do you think the starting front court will look like on opening day vs. Miami?
Brand/Thad?
Hawes/Brand?
Speights/Brand?
Battie/Brand?
Opening day, probably should be Speights/Brand. I'm guessing it'll either be Brand/Thad or Hawes/Brand.
My guess is we'll see Brand/Hawes to start the season. But that might be somewhat a "not upset the aplle-cart" type move, that could be changed up as soon as he team struggle.
-Brand: career starter. Making him a bench player will be asking for a confrontation from day 1
-Hawes: Primarily a starter for the Kings. Again, I see Collins as wanting to avoid initial; conflict in order to help get players to buy in on what he wants to do.
-Speights: Career back-up. Collins might worry that "handing" him the starting spot could lead to complacency.
Why didn't they go after josh Boone instead?